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Whatever sport you look at, there is no doubt youths are the future. They will ensure the survival and the development of a discipline, especially in windsurfing. In the past, perhaps this was forgotten in terms of specially adapted and efficient equipment for youngsters.  Today though, kids can finally find boards and rigs that will boost their progress. All they have to do is to spend time together in the water, because kids loving being with other kids and pushing themselves to progress. So ignoring the rule of never work with children or animals, I organised a mega trip for a bunch of talented kids in their school holidays, with the aim to get everyone on the water as much as possible, this is the story of how my ‘Water Academy’ went down!

Words Raf Filippi  //  Photos Manu Morel

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BEGINNING
Most parents know that for children to have fun, they have to be with their friends. Putting a kid on the water with windsurfing equipment and wind will not be enough to get him hooked. But if he finds himself spending this same day with friends of his age, the magic will happen! Therefore we gathered a team of kids for a journey that would take shape according to the weather conditions. Not all of them were windsurfers, but we wanted to make them discover all the board sports available and learn from each other. Today, there are so many different ways to have fun with boards, that I did not plan a single second of rest for the whole two weeks! Our trailer was filled with sails, boards, foils, surfboards, SUPs, skateboards and some surprises! Manu Morel, our faithful photographer, came with us to immortalise our sessions, but also to help me manage the team! Two weeks with a bunch of kids – we must be mad!

KIDS ON TOUR
The message sent to each kid was clear! Meeting at my place in Carro in the south of France with a towel, warm clothes, a wetsuit and a toothbrush – everything must fit in a small backpack to ensure mobility! Our itinerary will be decided by the weather forecast on the day of departure. This does not really reassure parents, who usually need to know precisely where their kids are, and I am surprised that everyone trusts me with their kids! Besides the homework, which is not really our specialty, Manu and I are ready to manage these five young water athletes.

LET’S GO!
The team, compromised of four boys and one girl and included two kitesurfers. The idea was not to turn them into windsurfers but to share our experiences on other boards such as surf, SUP or foil. The two oldest kids are Astrid Cheylus (15 years old) and Edgar Cheylus (17 years old) from Annecy. They love kitesurfing and are among the best freestyle skiers of their generation. Edgar was French freeride ski champion in 2018 and Astrid ranked 7th in Europe for freestyle skiing!

They have always spent their summers in Hossegor and are very good surfers. Tom Guillo (15 years old) is a young waterman who lives not far from Carro, in Sausset les Pins. His father put him on a surfboard as soon as he was able to swim and he then started to SUP, windsurf and wind-foil. He also excels on snow and downhill mountain biking and had just won his first French downhill MTB championship. He has an inner sense of balance and an amazing ability to disconnect his brain. He is the stuntman of the trip, sending back flips on his bike to impress passers-by! Esteban de Cruz (13 years old / 33 kilos) is a dedicated windsurfer from Marignane and dreams of walking in the footsteps of all the big French names on the PWA slalom tour. He is the same size as my son, César Filippi, who has just turned 12 and is completely focussed on waves. Whatever the gear he rides, he only thinks of surfing and jumping. With Manu Morel and myself, our team is ready to traverse France looking for the best conditions but given the calm weather, we decided to start our journey with a day of foil wake surfing, thanks to Anne Louvet and Philippe Bracar and their boat! Kai Lenny has revolutionized flat water foiling and it has become as fun as a good wave session. The troops foil until dusk and those who were reluctant to try are now completely won over and everyone has easily managed their first flights and first tumbles! There was no injuries on this first day and everyone was so tired they fall straight asleep. So far so good!

ON THE ROAD
Given the swell forecast, we decided to head for ‘Landes’ in southwestern France the next day to enjoy the beautiful waves forecast. Looking further ahead it seems our rough plan will be to enjoy some Atlantic surf for a few days then chase the wind from Leucate to Gruissan, before driving to Port Saint Louis (Camargue) and hitting up the spots around Carro.

There wasn’t the slightest breeze to sail in Hossegor, but the timing to surf was perfect. A good swell with an offshore wind allows us to make the most of the local beach break. Progress in surfing is a crucial step because it allows you to better position yourself while windsurfing in waves. It is also an opportunity for them to understand how tides affect surf spots. Not necessarily obvious for Mediterranean kids! Edgar is already a very good level and gets some beautiful tubes before breaking his board in two! He will now have time to work on his SUP skills! Astrid alternates between short board and longboard sessions and Tom is just working on being the most stoked in the water. Leonardo Fioravanti, the Italian pro surfer sponsored by Red Bull, is out surfing and gives them a lesson in speed, power and flow, cranking huge turns right in front of the beach. As the waves slack off at high tide, it’s time to try surf foiling and Edgar and Leo discover together just how much of a game changer foils are in turning waves that were previously not rideable into a solid session. The following days were magical with numerous surf and SUP sessions but the ‘North wind’ is starting to work, so it’s time for us to store the surfboards and chase the Tramontana on the other side of the Pyrenees.

WINDSURF TIME
After four days of non-stop surfing, our team is asleep in the car on the way to Gruissan. When they wake up, the scenery they discover is very different from ‘Landes’, not the slightest wave on the horizon, instead 40 knots of completely offshore wind. The temperature has dropped and the car is showing 7 degrees Celsius on the temperature sensor. I have to play a very loud AC/DC track to motivate them to get out of the car! We spend the day freeriding and freestyling in challenging conditions at Mateille Lake and are really happy to finish the day with a hot chocolate and a catch up with Philippe Bru, Défi Wind organiser, before hitting the road again for new adventures!

KIDS RIGS
The new kids’s kit our group was using has a lot of development behind it. Kai Hopf, Duotone’s designer, made dozens of prototypes before launching the ‘Now’ range to production. The sails are ultra-light, the diameter of the booms are adapted for small hands and the overall performance of the rigs match the best adult’s gear! When it comes to boards, the new Fanatic Grip XS is a 60 litre wave board that finally allows children to crank turns down the wave face like adults. This board is also suitable for lightweight riders, especially women. Sebastien Wenzel, Fanatic’s shaper, has developed it with his young team of riders who weigh between 40 and 60 kilos when wet! There has been real work on the thickness of the rails and the distances between the mastfoot and the footstraps to fit small legs!

SAND SURFING
Our next stop is Port Saint Louis du Rhone and the flat sands of Napoléon’s beach are the perfect place to enjoy the light breeze with the land boards I made for this trip. Whether it is with a kite or with a windsurfing rig, it is always fun to do something different and ride on the beach instead of the sea! Except that the falls are a little bit more painful for bodies and rigs! The team was now eager to enjoy a real wave session, so we head back to Carro to spend a quiet evening at home, as according to the weather forecast, things should start getting serious in terms of wind and waves tomorrow morning!

“The team was now eager to enjoy a real wave session.”

THE MAGIC OF CARRO!
Windguru was not wrong, the south coast of France was going off and Carro was cooking – 2.5m waves and 35 knots of northwest wind. Perfect to progress smoothly and for our young guns to discover the joys of swimming for their gear, also part of learning how too windsurf in waves! Being the most experienced, Tom is by far the most comfortable. He has already travelled quite a bit and has had the privilege of sailing at Ho’okipa. Esteban and Caesar spend a lot of time in the water and their size is a real asset for dealing with the lack of wind at the launching area. This is a bit of a problem at Carro. Depending on the wind’s direction, the launch can be very technical. Wave after wave, there’s a healthy competition going on between the kids. It is the one who goes fastest, surfs the most vertical, and of course, who jumps the highest! In the jumping game, Edgar and his kite easily take the lead, even though he kites strapless. The windsurfers are a bit frustrated until the waves get bigger and then they take centre stage, enjoying some really nice ramps. It was an epic day and the topic of all the kids conversations come evening time as we relived the session. In the following days, the wind turned west, a little more onshore, forcing everyone closer to the rocks – really technical conditions and quite dangerous. The 2.8m sails are out for our little riders and it’s pretty funny to see these small sails zooming around at the same speed as bigger ones. When I say bigger, I am sailing with a 4.0m fully powered, so it’s all relative! The most difficult part for Manu and I is not the conditions at sea, it is after the sessions, organising rinsing the equipment, derigging, showers and clothes for everyone! As far as food is concerned, we opted for cassoulet, a slow-cooked casserole containing meat, pork skin and white beans, originating in southern France. Après cassoulet always ended up in a “fart challenge” party; a game all kids love playing!

TIME’S UP
After the wind ended we spent a few days exploring by SUP the beautiful scenery of France’s ‘Blue Coast’, the section of coastline running west from Marseille as far as Étang de Berre lake. After that, luckily the surf spots in front of our house started to work, much to the pleasure of Caesar and Esteban who enjoyed the offshore wind, sneaking into some mini tubes! We heard all about it again that evening, just as if John John Florence was locked into a cavernous wave in Tahiti!

Between cuts from rocks and sea urchin spines in feet, injuries were beginning to take their toll on the kids and it was time for our academy to end! We spent the last few days healing our wounds and doing homework, a mandatory activity even for young rippers!

“The south coast of France was going off.”